Persona 4: The Fooling Jester
by Vincent67
Summary: Alternate Universe: Tohru Adachi is moving to Inaba to start anew for getting in trouble back in the city. Here, his life takes a turbulent turn as he solves a homicide case along with a few friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Persona 4: The Fooling Jester**

Disclaimer: The Persona series is property of Atlus. This is simply a fan series.

Chapter One: The Boonies

4-20-11

"How unlucky am I to end up in the boonies?"

That was running through Tohru Adachi's mind as he sat on a train heading to a small rural town known as Inaba. Before the trip, Adachi was one of the top students at his old high school until he got into a fight with some upper classmen and had to be sent away. Getting into fights was not uncommon as people were jealous as his 'golden ticket' known as talent. Getting fed up with seeing him coming home with bruises and black-eyes, Adachi's parents decided to have him stay in Inaba with a family friend his mother worked with.

Adachi looked out the window of his train when he noticed that he was getting quite drowsy. "Must have been something I ate…..a small nap wouldn't be bad." With that, Adachi slowly drifted to sleep, not caring how long he might sleep.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Adachi opened his eyes to find himself sitting in a blue limousine with a small bar and a table bolted to the floor across from him. Sitting at that table was an old man with a long nose accompanied by a wide grin. At his side sat a woman with a blue suit, holding a book and incredible looks.

"My name is Igor and this is my assistant Margaret. We are delighted to make your acquaintance."

Adachi looked around, wondering if he was dreaming. "Okay, now I know I ate something bad."

"Do not be alarmed. We simply summoned you within your dreams. You are still on your way to your destination."

"Great…the boonies."

"Such an intriguing destiny you have ahead of you. Tell me, do you believe in fortune-telling?"

"No, not really."

At the moment, Igor placed his hands out and a hexagon spread of cards formed on the table out of thin-air. Adachi showed shock to this, wondering how surreal his "dream" has gotten. First, Igor flipped a card that showed a bolt of lightning blowing the top portion of a tower off. Then, he flipped a second card which showed a crescent moon. Lastly, he folding a card that was in the middle of the spread, simply showing a man with a knapsack being followed by a dog.

"You are an intriguing guest so far. The Arcana of the Tower to symbolize the immediate future, the moon to represent mystery and hesitation and lastly…" Igor picked up the middle card and let it slip out of his hand, floating toward Adachi as he slowly catches it.

"The Arcana of the Fool representing the beginning of a journey and all the potential that comes from it. It seems that you will be shown a great mystery and tasked to solve it. I trust that you take great and careful measures in solving it. We await to see your "world" forms."

"My world? What are you…?" At the moment, Adachi couldn't withstand his own drowsiness, falling back to sleep.

"Now arriving at Yasoinaba"

The loudspeaker repeated that for a minute, signaling Adachi to get up after his weird dream. To his shock, he was holding a card in his hand, the same card that floated toward him. Questioning the events he dreamt, he simply slid the card into his pocket and stepped off the train, now walking into the small rural town of Inaba.

Boring as shit, thought Adachi. He then heard his name being called by a woman in a red kimono with long black hair. Next to her was a man with messy brown hair, a white shirt and black slacks, grinning at the new arrival.

"Tohru Adachi, isn't it? The woman politely questioned.

Adachi nervously chuckled. "Y-yeah, that's me." Adachi may have had talent, but his social skills were horrible, attributing why people never liked him. With new people, it was especially horrible.

"My name is Yukiko Amagi, manager of Inaba's pride, the Amagi Inn." The woman stated proudly. "My friend here is Yosuke Hanamura, manager of the Junes Branch here in Inaba. We're happy to make your acquaintance, Adachi-san."

"Nice to meet ya, glad you could be over." Said the young manager.

"H-hello Amagi-san and Hanamura-san."

"That's one way to talk to us. You're probably going to be staying here for a while so you can stop acting so polite. We've known your family before so you're technically family to us." Stated Yosuke.

"Come. You're going to be staying with us at the Amagi Inn." Yukiko happily said.

"An Inn? That sounds like an excellent place to stay at." Adachi complimented. "Staying here in the boonies might not be so bad." He thought.

This is my first fan fiction so if you're rating this, please go easy on me. I'm going to complete this story so I hope that you'll stick around for it. I've introduced Adachi as a young student moving to Inaba, staying with friends of his family, Yukiko Amagi and Yosuke Hanamura.


	2. Chapter 2

**Persona 4: The Fooling Jester**

Chapter Two: Foggy Dreams

4-20-11

Adachi simply stood there, looking at the famed Amagi hotel. It was glimmering with both a contemporary and traditional look, sporting many decorations. "So how do you like it? You'll be staying here with us." Said Yosuke. It was at that moment when Adachi noticed the wedding ring the both of them wore. "Are you both…?" questioned Adachi. Yukiko grinned widely and stood close next to Yosuke. "That's right! Mr. and Mrs. Hanamura, proud managers of the Amagi Inn and Junes!" Yukiko happily stated.

"She's a very delightful person. Trust me, you'll like it here with us." Said Yosuke. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled a ring with a pair of keys on it and tossed it to Adachi. He caught the ring with ease, examining it. "We set up a private room for you. There's a TV and a good futon out there for you. Remember, we're not strangers. Feel free to wonder around a bit and get to know the people in Inaba."

Adachi nodded and smiled at Yosuke's gesture. "Thank you for such hospitality. I'm going to go inside and get my stuff set up." With that, Adachi headed inside to his room. As he walked to his room, he bumped into one of the attendants. "M-my bad." Apologized Adachi as the silver-haired woman simply shrugged it off and went her way without reprimanding him for his carelessness.

Adachi sat there as he examined the card he woke up with. He tried to bend it, but it felt hard as rock, but felt like ordinary paper. The whole day has proven to be a great oddity in his life. A strange dream and an indestructible card were one subject, but what puzzled Adachi the most was Igor's words about a mystery he decides to willingly solve. Deciding that it was late, he laid out the futon and decided to sleep. When he came to it, Adachi woke up on a path of red blocks surrounded by fog.

"W-what the…? Is this another one of those weird dreams? He tried to look around, but everything else was covered by the fog. The only path Adachi could take was the path forward. Without any other options, Adachi began walking down the path. A few minutes passed until a bell rang; a genderless voice echoing around Adachi.

"Do you seek the truth?"

Adachi became alert and scanned his environment, looking for anybody or anything that emitted the voice he heard. The silence that followed began to unnerve him as he continued to walk faster down the path. After a few minutes, he reached a red door with no visible way of opening it. The same bell from before rang again, followed by the same, genderless voice from before.

"Are you willing to accept the truth, even if you are pained by it? Your answer may move you forward." said the disembodied voice. Adachi looked around and seeing as he had no other choice, he decided to engage the voice's question. "Yes, I will." said Adachi in a calm, but confident manner. Suddenly, the door opened with fog pouring out of it.

"You dare brave the Hollow Forest? You are an intriguing specimen. However, can you brave yourself?"

Adachi suddenly felt a weight in his right hand and looked to see a police-issued revolver. Puzzled, he examined the chamber to find all the bullets loaded into it, but with a strange décor on it. Looking around, Adachi felt a new presence. He scanned the area to find no around him. Footsteps were suddenly heard walking towards Adachi. He aimed the revolver at the source of the sound, nearly dropping it out of shock when he saw the noise's source.

There was a replica of Adachi, standing there with a normal grin on his face and gold eyes.

"Yo." greeted the replica.

"W-w-who are you? WHAT are you?" said Adachi, frightened out of his mind.

"Me? I'm you. Well, part of you. I came from you, see." explained the Adachi replica.

"H-how are you me? I'm right here! How do I even know you're me?" questioned Adachi frantically.

"Geez, you're more of a dumbass then people give credit to. Well, I exist specifically in this form because you're rejecting apart of yourself. Hence, I appeared."

"T-that doesn't make sense!" shouted the frightened Adachi. The replica stared at Adachi, then grabbed his shoulder, putting on a stern face.

"Listen. You're rejecting a part of yourself. You need to face reality, the one you live in. You may have been born with a gold ticket and no silver spoon in your mouth, but that doesn't mean you're invincible. You're human, like everyone else. You may have skill unlike everyone else, but you need human bonds. Without them, you'll just suffer. You'll end up hurting yourself and others. You don't think I know? You're me and I'm you. You need to accept that, for the both of us."

Adachi stood there, shocked at the replica's words. He couldn't ignore the words he said. The words that showed that he was lonely, that he lacked the bonds to fit into society and that he hasn't tried to change that. Adachi looked up at his replica's face and nodded. "You're…..you're right. I never tried to fit it with people. No matter what I did, people found ways to look down on me. After a while, I stopped caring what people thought about me and simply went on in blissful ignorance." Adachi stared straight into his shadow's eyes. "I will make my time in Inaba great. I'll turn myself around. You know I mean it. You're me and I'm you."

Adachi's shadow smiled warmly, stepping back a few feet and nodding before being engulfed by a white light. The replica disappeared and was replaced by a floating entity with a white mask wearing a black trench coat with blades on its feet while carrying a spear. The entity, staring at Adachi with the same gold eyes as before, spoke in a filtered, but confident voice. "Thou art I and I art thou, from the sea of unconsciousness stirring in thy soul, I cometh at your request. I am the Persona, Izanagi, born from the Arcana of the Fool. I look forward to accompanying your journey." As he finished, a light engulfed Adachi's vision and he woke up in his bedroom.

4-21-11

Adachi checked the time, it read as six-o-clock in the morning. He went and searched for the card from before, finding the image of the man with the knapsack changing into Izanagi momentarily before changing back. "The fool, huh…? I guess coming to Inaba wasn't such a bad thing after all."


	3. Chapter 3

**Persona 4: Fooling Jester**

Chapter Three: Yasogami High School

After eating breakfast with Yosuke and Yukiko, Adachi went out for his first day of school at Yasogami, the local high school. He was walking down the flood way when a bike rode past him at high speeds. He couldn't see immediately, but he saw that the passengers where a boy and a girl crashing into a tree. As Adachi walked by, he noticed that the boy had been hit in a critical area and was grasping in pain. The girl was frantic-looking and worrying about his injury.

"O-ow….why do I always get hit there…?"

"U-u-uhm! We should get you a bag of ice and quick!"

Seeing as this was none of his concern, Adachi strode on by, whistling a small tune by himself. After a couple minutes of walking, he stepped onto the campus of Yasogami. The cherry blossom trees to the sides where bustling with pink petals decorating the path to the school. Classes were about to begin soon so Adachi hurried into the school.

"Alright kids, settle down, settle down. We have a new student for this year." said the teacher. She had tan, long hair and was rather thin, showing no signs of anorexia. "As you all remember, I'm Ms. Konishi. I want you all to treat this student with kindness and respect. If he has any questions, feel free to answer them." said the teacher. "Now, why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"

"Hello, my name is Tohru Adachi. It's nice to meet you all."

Ms. Konishi nodded. "Now, take a seat. Pick whichever one you'll find comfortable."After examining the class, he sat next to a girl, to his surprise, was the one from this morning.

"You're lucky to be in Ms. Konishi's class this year. She's a wonderful teacher." whispered the student.

"Well, at least it's not so bad."

-After Class-

Adachi was packing his messenger bag when the girl from before was approaching him with two boys, one with slicked-back hair and the other with slightly messy hair and small amounts of fuzz growing from his chin.

"Hey, transfer student. Walking home by yourself?" asked the girl.

Adachi nodded. "The folks I'm staying with are expecting me back soon. They're going to want to hear about my first day here."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll walk with you. I'm Mayumi Yamano, this is my boyfriend Taro Namatame and this is our neighbor, Ryotaro Dojima."

"It's nice to meet you, Adachi-san." said Namatame.

"Welcome to Yasogami, rookie." said Dojima.

"R-rookie?" questioned Adachi.

Dojima looked at his watch and became startled. "Ah crap, I need to get home soon. I'll see you guys later!" With that, Dojima rushed out of classroom. Adachi stood there puzzled at what happened. "I don't get it, what's the hurry?"

"Oh yeah, since you're new here, we might as well tell you about the people at school here so you can probably talk to them better." smiled Mayumi.

"C'mon, we'll walk with you to where you're staying." said Namatame.

-After School-

As they were walking down by Inaba's shopping district, Adachi informed them of why he had to move here.

"Fights? Wow, I wasn't expecting that. I thought it would have to do more with your parents."

"Nah, their work doesn't get in the way. They have time for family, I guess." said Adachi.

"Don't worry. Not a lot of people here care about whether you're good at something. They more care about what you do right." smiled Namatame.

Mayumi looked ahead, making a puzzled expression. "Why's everyone gathered over there?" She was correct that a small crowd of people formed along one of the paths leading to the shopping district. A police car was there, the sirens flashing, but not making any noise. The trio walked closer to get a better look at what was happening. They stopped when they could hear the gossip of two housewives.

"I heard a local store owner found the body! Imagine his surprise when that happened."

"I couldn't even imagine finding something like that on an antenna!"

"Who would have thought about finding a dead body here?"

Mayumi gasped as Namatame and Adachi stood there shocked to hear what had happened. A dead body was found here in Inaba. Without much thought, Adachi broke off and slipped through the crowd, trying to get a better view. Past the barricade of yellow tape, Adachi saw a woman with a dark green jacket and short brown hair standing next to a taller man with silver hair. A carrier passed with the body under wraps; the silver-haired detective pulled up the cover to see the victims face.

"Yup, that's Misuzu Hiragi alright." spoke the detective in a cool but emotionless voice.

"Good god, who would do something like this?" asked the woman, her voice sounding sadder. Adachi ran back to Mayumi and Namatame, only to pass them and begin throwing up next to a telephone pole.

"A-Adachi-san, who was it? What did you see?" asked a worried Mayumi. After pulling himself together, Adachi finally said a name. "A girl named Misuzu Hiragi…" Namatame's face immediately came down with shock and pain, only noticed by Mayumi as Adachi vomited once more. At that moment, the woman from before came by to Adachi, offering a napkin.

"Hey kid. I know this is probably your first time seeing a dead body, but you should take better care on how you react. Some people are looking your way." said the female detective. Adachi looked up at her and gently took the napkin, wiping off any traces of vomit and saliva from his mouth. Thinking about it, the detective seemed cute up close. "Thank you" whispered Adachi as he stood up.

"Satonaka-san. Hurry back, we need to collect as much evidence before the fog around here hampers us."

Adachi looked at the detective and bowed, still grateful for the napkin. She smiled at him and walked back to her partner. As he watched her disappear into the crowd, Adachi remembered about Mayumi and Namatame, looking back and finding him with a hand over his face and Mayumi hugging him. By how it looked, Adachi thought that Namatame personally knew the victim.

"I…I should head back from here." said Adachi, realizing those two might need time alone. Without a reply, Adachi headed back to the Amagi Inn.

Adachi sat in the lobby of the Amagi Inn, looking at the cloudy day outside. He just couldn't believe how today ended. He also couldn't stop thinking about the detective's face. Trying to set aside the possibility of an attraction, he began walking to his room when Yukiko popped out at him. "Adachi-san, we wanted to let you know, an old friend of ours is stopping by for dinner tomorrow night. We would like you to join us, okay?" Adachi simply smiled and nodded, then began walking back to his room. Yukiko stood there and wore a puzzled look. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked out-loud to no one. Yosuke walked in and stood next to her. "I heard that a dead body was found. I bet he saw It." he grimly stated. Yukiko had a worried expression on her face. "I hope he does alright."

As he looked out the window, Adachi couldn't help but wonder about today and how tomorrow would play out. He checked the weather and the fog was going to roll in again the day after tomorrow. If he was lucky, this whole thing would die down. He seriously doubted that and decided to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Persona 4: The Fooling Jester**

Chapter 4: The Midnight Channel

4-22-11

Adachi felt like yesterday was one of the worst days he could experience. Not only was a dead body discovered, but it turns out Namatame might have known the person as well. What was even unkind was that Adachi felt like a brick that morning. However, he still couldn't miss school. For some reason, he thought, he seemed worried about Namatame's condition and it Mayumi needed any help with him. Even though Adachi probably threw up a week's worth of food when he saw the dead body, he couldn't help but feel like Namatame took the worst of it, even if he didn't show it. Without much of a second thought, Adachi finally got out of his futon and got dressed, ready to go to school.

-During School-

During class, Adachi noticed that Namatame wasn't at school, but Mayumi was. However, her earlier happy look was more saddened and worried, as if she was expecting something. Dojima was here as well, but looked exhausted. When lunch came about, he began searching for Mayumi, who was on the roof eating soba noodles alone. With whatever confidence Adachi had, he walked towards Mayumi with his own lunch.

"Mind if I eat with you?" asked Adachi, holding up his box of lunch. Mayumi looked up with curious eyes as if she was caught off-guard.

"Sure, go ahead." replied Mayumi. Adachi opened his lunch to some sushi and some leaves of cabbage and began eating. Off the bat, Adachi decided to ask. "How's Namatame doing?"

Mayumi stopped eating and looked down. At first, she looked like she was going to cry, but instead, she sat up and took a deep breath. Curiously, Adachi watched only to see if what he had asked would cause her problems.

"N-Namatame…I found him drunk last night. After walking me home, I couldn't bear to see him so hurt. I went to his house a little later and I found him in his room asleep after downing an entire bottle. I just couldn't stand to see him so hurt, but I left. I thought that if he knew I saw him like that, his confidence would go down."

"Who was that girl though? What was bothering Namatame so much?"

Mayumi cringed a bit. "That girl was Misuzu Hiragi, like you found out. She's his ex-girlfriend from another school. Despite having such a strained relationship, he still cared about her. I guess that he's just taking it hard."

Adachi frowned at her statement. Now he understood why he looked so awful at that moment. While Mayumi sat in silence, seemingly trying to get over her sadness, Adachi began thinking to himself. They said that Misuzu was found on a TV antenna. It's not possible to rule out murder, he thought to himself. The real question was who in the right mind would do such a thing? Adachi quickly snapped out of it when he heard the bell ring for class to begin and simply walked to class with Mayumi in silence.

-After School-

As Adachi was packing up, Mayumi was nowhere in sight and Dojima was approaching Adachi. "Hey rookie, want to hang out somewhere?" Adachi, while not used to the nickname, decided to enlighten Dojima and went with him to the local mega-market Junes. After eating a bit in the food court, Dojima got giddy when he remembered a rumor he heard about.

"Hey rookie, ever heard of the Midnight Channel?"

"Huh? What's that? Some kind of adult show or something?"

Dojima blushed at his statement. "N-no, it's not like that! It's this weird, creepy channel that comes on at midnight with the lights off and when it rains at night. I even heard a rumor that someone saw the girl from yesterday on it."

Adachi cringed at the thought of that. Hearing about her from Mayumi seemed to finally trouble him. "Sounds like something from a sci-fi film."

"How much do you want to bet that it's not a lie?"

"How about this instead. It's going to rain tonight, right? I'll try it out tonight and see if your rumor is true." said Adachi in a confident manner.

"Alright fine, but you gotta tell me as early as possible."

After some more conversation, Adachi and Dojima parted ways.

-Evening-

As Adachi arrived back at the Amagi Inn, Yosuke greeted him from outside.

"Hey Adachi, our guest decided to come early. C'mon, dinner's about to start." said Yosuke as he rushed Adachi inside.

Without much choice, Adachi went to the dinner room of the Inn and saw Yukiko heavily conversing with a woman. At his distance, the woman seemed familiar. Upon closer inspection, Adachi realized it was the woman from yesterday, the one who handed him the napkin when he was vomiting. From the sound of it, they were having quite the lively conversation. Adachi took the spot across their guest as Yosuke sat across from his wife.

"Oh hey, you're the kid from yesterday! Sorry you had to see that." said their guest.

"Huh? Don't worry about me, I'm feeling better" said Adachi shyly, not wanting to remember Namatame and Mayumi's state.

Yukiko chimed in. "Oh, you haven't introduced yourself to him right? Go on, I'm sure the more people he knows, the better he'll be here."

"Oh yeah, that slipped my mind. I'm Chie Satnonaka, detective at the Inaba Police Department." said Chie, holding her hand out to Adachi. He smiled and shook it back. One of the chefs came in and sat a huge plate that had an assortment of foods on it. Adachi smiled as dinner promised to be lively tonight.

-Adachi's Room-

Chie seemed like an easy-going girl, but she was more like a steak-loving kung-fu fanatic who once held the title of "The Carnivore who discarded Womanhood." Yosuke probably should've let that title stay unsaid as after the party, she could hear him yell when he was hit in a sensitive place. Adachi was told not to worry about it as 'it happens all the time.' He knew better than to question it and went up to his room.

Remembering what Dojima said back at Junes, he stayed up to see this midnight channel that he heard of. Regardless of it, he felt uneasy. Why? Even he couldn't figure it out. For now, he simply sat there on his couch, looking at the empty TV in his room with the rain being heard outside. The clock made a noise that indicated that it was midnight. Adachi kept staring at the screen intently, waiting for something to occur.

His patience finally paid off as static came across the screen. Adachi sat there with a wide mouth, wondering what would happen. A person seemed like they were on the TV, but they could not even be seen through the static. As Adachi stood up to look into it, he felt a ringing in his head occur.

"Thou art Us…" said a collective voice from nowhere. Adachi grasped his head, clutching it in pain.

"We art thou…" Adachi's vision began to blur as he couldn't stand up straight.

"The time has cometh. Open thyne eyes and call upon our names!"

Adachi finally lost his foot and forward to his TV. However, he couldn't feel the TV. Instead, he felt his arm going through something like water, but not getting wet. As his vision began to come together, he saw perfectly that his arm was simply going through the TV into something. He quickly pulled out his arm, accidentally falling back on the table. Grunting in pain, he heard Yukiko knocking at his door.

"I heard you fall in there. Is something wrong?"

Adachi began to stammer. "N-nothing's wrong here! Just tripped, that's it!"

"Oh my. Well, get some rest. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Adachi tried to search for words, but then he knew he wouldn't be able to produce any.

-Chapter End-


End file.
